The War On Mediocrity

for those of you who've been backpacking through Europe before, how much do you think I should take if I want to travel for about 6 months?

this is in terms of covering food, accomodation, local transport and sights etc, don't need to worry about airfares, insurance or transport to other countries

if I'm planning to travel through the UK, Ireland, France, Benelux, Germany, Denmark, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland + maybe Scandinavia, Russia, Lithuania and Estonia for six months. Maybe basing myself in Liverpool or Glasgow.

because, in the midst of my budget planning for upcoming Eurotrip, I'm planning to save about $15,000, but I don't know if this will be enough

any tips or advice would be handy


my one and only vow: I'm not coming home until I go to Oktoberfest

I do this every year around now, where I list off all my top 10s for 2007, so here goes...

Top 10 Films
I think this year has been a great year for cinema, it was hard narrowing this list down to ten


Hot Fuzz
best film I've seen this year, I swear Simon Pegg and Nick Frost sat around one night contemplating how to make the most awesome film ever


This Is England
close runner up, what I loved most is how Shane Thurgoose does what most child actors can't do and actually acts like a kid


Italianetz (The Italian)
amazing Russian film, again, another child actor who actually acts like a kid


Noise
best Australian film I've seen this year


Paris, je t'aime (Paris, I Love You)
a collection of short films based in every Parisian arrondissement, some mediocre (i.e. the mime one), some amazing (Maggie Gyllenhaal speaking French = HOTT)


Ratatouille
I don't normally like Disney films, but this was actually really good


Sicko
one of Michael Moore's better films, Fahrenheit 9/11 sucked, but this was more in-depth and a more legitimate subject, a bit over-exaggerated in some parts, the only film he's done that doesn't preach to the converted


The Wind That Shakes The Barley
really interesting film set in 1920 in the Irish War of Independence


Pan's Labyrinth
it was strange how it was like a kids fairytale, but really violent and something kids probably shouldn't watch, but I guess that's how fairytales should be


The Simpsons Movie
I don't care what anyone says, I loved it!

honourable mentions: Transformers, Lives of Others, Blood Diamond, The Namesake, Black Snake Moan, Once and I'm seeing Ensemble, c'est tout (Hunting & Gathering) next Tuesday, so I may revise this list...



Top 10 Musical Releases

Bloc Party - Weekend In The City


Arcade Fire - Neon Bible


Bad Religion - New Maps of Hell


Grinderman - self titled


Turbonegro - Retox


Kate Nash - Made Of Bricks


Against Me! - New Wave


Kanye West - Graduation


Sigur Rós - Hvarf-Heim


The Editors - The End Has a Start

Sporting Moments
I had a pretty bad year in sport overall...
* Adelaide United ended the winning streak of the best team in the competition during the season, and would go on to face them again in the grand final and receive an absolute hiding
* Port Power ended the winning streak of the best team in the competition during the season, and would go on to face them again in the grand final and receive an absolute hiding
* The Socceroos had a woeful Asian Cup, losing to Iraq 3-1, playing shit against Oman and losing to Japan on penalties. But I think things will get better in 2008, Pim Verbeek as the new coach and World Cup qualifiers, plus a rumoured friendly against England
* Liverpool losing to AC Milan in the Champions League final
* The Wallabies were once again, knocked out of the Rugby World Cup, by England
* but at least Melbourne Storm won the NRL grand final

Best Thing Of All In 2007
the end of John Howard and the election of Kevin Rudd and progress already being made, like signing Kyoto, ending the Pacific Solution and dismantling workchoices.

What I'm Looking Forward To In 2008:
* travelling...
* rumoured Australia vs. England friendly, if it happens
* Euro 2008
* films like The Dark Night (new Batman film), Sin City 2 and Shantaram
* Rock Band - I'd buy a Playstation 3 for this game alone
* the end of George W. Bush's presidency and Denis Kucinich becoming the next US president (I wish...)


everyone else, I'd like to read your top 10s too

Liberal Party, during election campaign:

"The ALP is full of former union officials who will STUFF OUR ECONOMY."

Liberal Party, after election campaign

"Meet our new leader, former union official and ALP member Brendan Nelson."



isn't it great knowing the most senior Liberal in Australia is Brisbane's Lord Mayor?

HOLY SHIT I WAS RIGHT IN MY LAST POST! I KNEW IT!

http://www.theage.com.au/news/federal-election-2007-news/costello-wont-lead-libs/2007/11/25/1195947541130.html

HOUSE OF REPS
* Kevin Rudd is Prime Minister. It was as inevitable as Geelong winning the 2007 AFL premiership or Melbourne Victory winning the 06/07 A-League final.

* Aunty Maxine won in Bennelong, ousting John Howard from his seat, BEST THING EVER!!

* Costello looked like he wanted to throttle Howard during his speech last night judging by his body language. Plus, I think Turnbull will challenge Costello for leadership of the Libs. Rumour has it that the last leadership challenge was because he was offered a cushy job at Macquarie Bank, and he may quit in 6 months time now that he's lost his opportunity to be Prime Minister...meaning I will have to vote in a Higgins by-election in London.

* one of the positive things for me was the massive swing to the ALP in Lindsay over the muslim pamphlet controversy, it's restored my faith in Australian people, which I lost after the Tampa crisis in 2001

* it's clear that no-one brought into the unions scare campaign or workchoices, democracy extends to the workplace too.

* and the Libs "born to rule" attitude was REALLY starting to bug me

SENATE
* Greens now hold the balance of power in the senate, so now it's no longer just a rubber stamp for government legislation. Conservatives hold 38 seats (Coalition 37, Fundamentalist First 1), progressives 38 (ALP 32, Greens 5, independent 1).
I'm thrilled that Bob Brown returns, Sarah Hanson-Young and Scott Ludlam won seats in SA and WA respectively, but disappointed Kerry Nettle lost and Andrew Wilkie didn't win a 2nd seat in Tassie.

* Nick Xenophon, a charismatic independent senator from SA won a seat, don't agree with him on everything, but I like his campaigning style and I think he'll shake things up a bit

* PAULINE HANSON DIDN'T WIN A SENATE SEAT IN QUEENSLAND, get fucked you racist cunt!

* Fundamentalist First didn't gain any seats, in the words of Nelson Muntz: "haw haw"

* Australia's worst candidate: Lisa Milat, sister of notorious serial killer Ivan, on a senate ticket with pro-gun platform, only got 0.2% of the vote in ACT


THINGS I NOW WANT TO SEE HAPPEN
* Kyoto, now!

* better broadband infrastructure, can't wait!

* the end of Workchoices, and restoring Keating's industrial relations changes (i.e. collective bargaining, unions right of entry into workplaces)

* a senate enquiry into the activities of the Exclusive Brethren, in terms of breaching election laws and deals done with Coalition members

* Peter Garrett becomes Environment Minister, listens to Midnight Oil records again, regains his conscience, does what he actually believes instead of towing party lines and quashes the Gunns pulp mill in the Tamar Valley, similar to what Hawke did with the Franklin dam in the early 80s

* changes to HECS, Austudy and apprenticeship wages - that's the main reason why I'm not at university full time right now, because I can't afford to live on $300 a fortnight, pay bills, pay rent and eat. At the moment, Australia is the ONLY OECD nation to cut public funding for tertiary education.

* a less partisan and more independent ABC board and more ABC funding, a recent KPMG report into the ABC's business activities showed that it's well run, but very under-funded.

* the end of the Pacific Solution

* the end of the false debate that there's somehow a choice between a healthy environment or a healthy economy

* Navy intervention of Japanese whaling ships off our shores

* Medibank stays in public hands (there, I've said it!)

* more government transparency and the end of constant secrecy, such as Costello placing Freedom of Information blocks in tax changes

* maintaining support and winning Australia the right to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup

* 12 months paid maternity leave for new mothers, perhaps a joint collaboration of subsidies negotiated through collective bargaining and government support. It's shit that Australia is one of only two developed nations which does not offer this.

* maintaining Australia's prosperity, low employment and interest rates remain in single figures

* reduction of subsidies and tax-cuts, the government is high-taxing yet it's all returned in tax cuts instead of spending on meaningful things, like upgrading hospitals, public transport and education

and most of all...

* ending the constant buck-passing and shifting of blame upon democratically elected states and territories, now that the highest position the Libs have in Australia is Brisbane's Lord Mayor, I'd like to see MAJOR changes to Australia's healthcare system and many other things

that's all for now.

the future is brighter.

=

today is John Howard's last day as prime minister before he retires tomorrow

tomorrow night, I will be drinking lots of Chilada during his concession speech

the evil overlord's reign is almost over

how awesome is seeing a band, not being able to wipe the smile off your face throughout the whole show, singing along to every song, seeing old friends you haven't seen in years and forgetting about everything that's bringing you down...

well that happened to me tonight at Bad Religion. I'm still mesmerised at how amazing the show was, they played for two hours and I heard pretty much every song I wanted to hear them play.

the only band left now on my "bands I must see before I die" list is the Descendents

so every election, I like to meticulously plan out the order of whom I'm voting for on the House of Reps ballot and in the Senate.

After looking into the candidates for Higgins, I'm seriously considering voting for Stephen Mayne (Crikey founder, shareholder activist) - someone whom I have a lot of respect for, he is running as an independant in Higgins.



But every election, I also carefully plan out who I place last...

My first election in 2001, I put One Nation last because I hate Pauline Hanson.
In 2004, it was Family First because evangelical money-grubbing happy-clappy god botherers annoy me.
In 2007, it's Citizens Electoral Council.

"who?" you might be asking?

the CEC are the Australian branch of the LaRouche Movement, a conspiracy theorist cult who are anti-semitic, homophobic, compare climate change activists to Nazis and believe that the British monarchy conspires against building an international railway system that travels around the world...I could go on, but don't vote for these pieces of shit.

the competition for last place gets tighter every election

* the government is selling uranium to India and may be selling it to Russia too. who next? North Korea? Iran?

* there's a new recession coming

* more pork barreling with Howard pledging funds to improve Adelaide's southern expressway to extend to Port Adelaide and give long overdue improvements to South Rd (Adelaide's main arterial route), would be nice if the Rann government actually got adequate federal funding to be able to do this, and I wonder why has this taken 11 years?...

* the Australian Crime Commission is investigating illegal conduct by British American tobacco in the Rolah McCabe case.

* Haneef's VISA cancellation by Kevin Andrews is quashed by the high court

* John Howard meets with the Interfering Brethren two weeks ago when he has already been scrutinised about this

* AND KEVIN RUDD WENT TO A STRIP CLUB
who needs real news when you've got a sex scandal to report?
it's like the Liberal Party are resorting to every dirty trick from the US Republican Party's handbook.